


An Unorthodox Proposal

by GeckoGirl89



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, M/M, Marriage of Convenience, Mutual Pining, POV Danny "Danno" Williams, Self-Sacrificial Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-28 08:13:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10827345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeckoGirl89/pseuds/GeckoGirl89
Summary: Danny could typically roll with the insane and unexpected things that happened on cases these days.But he had never expected Steve to just enter his office on an ordinary Tuesday morning and declare, “We should get married.”





	An Unorthodox Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> Written for OTP Idea #370 on otpisms (http://otpisms.tumblr.com): _Your OTP only getting married for tax benefits._ Also inspired by the story hoʻokāne by Siria, which you can read here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/755859/
> 
> Set after 7.18. For the purposes of this story, Steve and Danny are single.

Since Danny had started working for Five-0, he had gotten used to all kinds of crazy things happening, from faked tsunamis to nuclear bombs that had to be discharged in the middle of a jungle. Danny could typically roll with the insane and unexpected things that happened on cases these days.

But he had never expected Steve to just enter his office on an ordinary Tuesday morning and declare, “We should get married.”

Danny, flummoxed at this random proposal, just said “What?!” His voice may have squeaked a little, because seriously, what the hell was going on? If Danny hadn’t been quite so surprised, he might have launched into a rant about how you have to at least date someone for a few months before you can ask them to marry you. You can’t just suddenly, out of the blue, propose to your best friend without even kissing them first.

But then Steve sat across the desk from Danny and produced paperwork. All kinds of paperwork detailing the “logical” benefits of marriage.

“It just makes sense for us, Danno,” Steve said, as if he was being the reasonable one. Danny was starting to wonder if maybe being in the SEALs or having this job had impacted Steve more than anyone thought. Danny was used to his partner’s harebrained schemes, but this plan showed that Steve had finally cracked and lost whatever vestiges of sanity he had.

Steve showed Danny how much they would each save on taxes if they got married. He pulled out an “estimated” calculation for Danny, who questioned how his partner knew how much he had to pay in income taxes each year.

“I talked to a financial planner,” Steve replied, as if that was a totally normal thing to do.

He went through more paperwork, explaining how marrying Danny would mean that Steve would still be entitled to visitation with Danny’s kids in the event that something bad happened to him. They would also both have next-of-kin benefits in the event that either of them ended up in the hospital. Steve ran through the other legal benefits, and Danny’s head was swimming by the end of his speech. Steve had obviously discussed this with some kind of attorney.

“Plus, think about it this way. When we open _Steve’s_ , you can say that you named the restaurant after your husband. That would be a better story than saying you named it after your friend, and it will probably get us more business.”

Danny was too stunned to even protest naming his hypothetical retirement restaurant after Steve. Hell, in the grand scheme of things, this wasn’t that different from how things went with them. Steve made Danny his partner, and now he was apparently going to make him husband as well. Naming Danny’s restaurant after himself was just part of his typical tendency to end up controlling Danny’s life.

“Of course, you can keep seeing other people,” Steve continued. “It’s not like I’m going to tie you down just because we’re technically married.”

Danny wouldn’t admit to it, but his heart shattered at the idea of being only “technically married” to Steve. He had tried to not let his unrequited feelings for his partner extend to thinking about actually marrying him, but Danny had to admit that a sham marriage was the exact opposite of the hopes and dreams he had attempted to ignore.

Something of what he felt must have shown on his face, because Steve patted him on the shoulder in a comforting manner. “I know it’s a big decision, so I’ll give you some time to think about it, buddy.”

 _Buddy_ , right. Danny had to get that through his head.

Once the day began, Steve just treated it like a normal day at the office, like he hadn’t just asked Danny to _marry him_. It only made Danny feel worse, honestly, and he was a lot more quiet than he would normally be. When he wasn’t focusing on their current case, he was pondering how exactly to tell Steve he couldn’t marry him without giving away his feelings.

Steve was right, in that the “marriage” would end up saving them money and would provide a number of legal benefits, some of which would make life easier for Danny. But Danny couldn’t marry Steve for such cold, unemotional reasons.

By the time the team was eating lunch, Danny was feeling too sick to touch his shrimp. He kept imagining a bizarre, fake marriage to Steve and wondering what would become of his life. Would they have to lie to all of their friends and loved ones, letting them think they were “in love” while privately acting like platonic friends? Danny didn’t think he could do that.

“Hey, are you all right?” Chin asked. “You seem kind of off today.”

He gave Chin the best, most reassuring smile he could. “I’m fine.” He shot a quick, annoyed glare at Steve. “Just have a lot of things on my mind today.”

Danny was still in a state of heartbroken confusion throughout the afternoon. He was finishing up some paperwork after the end of the case, when it suddenly hit him. “Son of a bitch,” he said to himself.

He stormed into Steve’s office, closing the door behind him and locking it. He didn’t want any of their coworkers to witness this particular conversation. “You said I could see other people? How the fuck do you think that’s going to work?”

Steve, who was sitting at his desk, frowned up at Danny. “Well, being married might cut into your dating pool somewhat, but I think if you just explain the situation–”

“Explain the situation? What exactly is the situation, Steven? Apparently, I can see other people, but you can’t?!” Danny paced in front of Steve’s desk, too wound up to just stand like a normal human. “Through that entire conversation, it was all ‘we’ and ‘us,’ even when it came to things like the restaurant or my children. But you get to that topic, and then suddenly it’s all about me?!”

Steve looked nervous. He glanced away. “I told you, Danny, I don’t want to tie you down.”

“But you’re willing to tie yourself down?” Danny sighed and steepled his hands together. “Babe, please, just tell me what’s going on.”

“I can’t,” Steve muttered. He was staring at the desk as if it held the answers to all of the questions in the universe.

Danny shook his head. “Why not?”

Steve’s gaze darted up to Danny’s face and away again. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. The depth of pain in that glance, brief as it was, was enough to make Danny feel like his entire world had just been flipped upside down.

“You… you don’t want to see other people, do you? Steve, that’s–”

“Look, can we just not talk about this?” Steve crossed his arms and stared up into Danny’s eyes. “Just because I have… _feelings_ … It doesn’t have to change anything.”

Danny smiled sadly. He could tell that Steve actually believed that his own feelings were somehow irrelevant. He knew Steve could be a self-sacrificing idiot at times, but this was just ridiculous.

Danny walked closer and perched on the edge of Steve’s desk. “I have conditions.”

Steve looked confused. “Conditions?”

Danny nodded, privately enjoying that he was going to be the one to surprise Steve for once. “I’ll marry you, but you have to take me out for dinner first. And it has to be real. None of this ‘we can see other people’ crap.”

Steve released a happy laugh. “You’re serious.”

“As a heart attack, babe.”

Steve stood up. “If I had known it would be this easy, I wouldn’t have prepared that big speech.”

Danny grinned. “You didn’t have to talk to that financial planner or lawyer either.”

“I guess not.” Steve stepped closer, and his hand hovered over Danny’s shoulder like he was shy about touching him. Danny had never seen this side of Steve before, and it was beyond adorable. “If… uh… if you want it to be real, that means I can kiss you, right?”

Danny chuckled. “You can.”

As Steve leaned in and finally kissed him, Danny reflected that the entire course of events that had transpired today was kind of crazy. But Danny was going along with it, so he must be kind of crazy too. He let his eyes close as he returned the kiss and decided that he was fine with being crazy if it got him everything he had ever wanted.

Steve broke the kiss and beamed at Danny. He looked happier than Danny had ever seen him. He sat back down in his chair and did something on his computer.

“Babe, what are you up to?”

Steve seemed very focused on whatever he was doing. “Looking up where we’ll go for dinner and booking an online reservation.” He smirked over at Danny. “That was part of your conditions, right?”

Danny laughed. “Right. That was basically my _only_ condition.”

Steve winked at Danny. “I better go ahead and book that reservation then.”

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted here: http://geckogirl89.tumblr.com/post/157888983085/an-unorthodox-proposal


End file.
